September Stop: Queens, NY

I’ve never seen so many people in my life. I was immediately blown away by the sheer amount of everything that New York is. There’s millions of people, cars, businesses, places to explore, and the list could go on and on. I truly don’t think my mind wrapped around the size of the city. It took a little bit of effort to not get overwhelmed by it all, especially since I lack city experience, but I kept telling myself that even if I lived in NYC for the next 50 years, I wouldn’t be able to see everything and do it all. Because when we got there, I wanted to do exactly that, see everything and do it all. Since that’s impossible, we settled for doing and seeing as much as we could in our month there, and I’ll do my best to condense all of that here.

Another pro tip to avoid feeling overwhelmed and getting panicked in the face of a huge, new, daunting experience is to jump in full cannonball. Fear and anxiety can be huge deterrents, so I just close my eyes and jump before my heart has the chance to beat out of my chest. With that being said, let’s jump in.

We drove from Ingleside, IL to State College, PA as an overnight stop before completing the rest of the drive on Sept. 1. Stopping at a hotel overnight can be tricky with a car sick, elderly cat, but it had to be done. The best part about choosing State College was getting to see my close friend for coffee in the morning! They met up with me at a cute coffee shop and we got to chat for hours before I had to get back on the road. It was the best treat getting to see them even just for that little bit in the morning. I loved being with them!

When I drove over the Washington Bridge from New Jersey into New York, my mouth dropped open. I got a view of the skyscrapers along the Hudson River and knew I was in for a wild ride. It already looked five times the size of Chicago from the one look I got from my window.

I got to our apartment around 6pm and you guys know the drill, let Princess settle in, unpack, grocery shop, and pass out. It’s always a process settling in. As I’ve mentioned before, it takes about a week to get comfortable and a week to pack up. It is hard when you are learning a completely new area once a month whether it is where the grocery store is, how to get around, getting exercise memberships, and more. We loved our apartment though! It was plenty big enough for the three of us with cute, older architecture. The neighborhood was nice and quiet, the perfect getaway from the bustle of the city. My yoga studio was a 15 minute walk away and the gym was only five.

We woke up to our first day in New York and jumped onto the subway to take us into Manhattan.
The train station was a five minute walk from us, and the ride was only 15-20 minutes into Manhattan which was amazing. We stepped off the subway and were whisked away into a new world. It felt like getting caught up in a flowing river of people.

I was wide eyed the whole time trying to experience it all. The chaos wasn’t contained underground in the station and spilled out onto the streets.
We broke away from the busy streets to take our first stroll in Central Park. It felt like we left the city behind in the massive park.
I’ve never been anywhere like it before, this created sprawl of nature giving everyone a reprieve from the movement and noise of the city. I can see why it is so famous.

Most of the time we were under the cover of trees and protected from the city, but this picture was from when we went into an open field with a view of the skyscrapers. The whole park was so peaceful and lovely.

We walked around for hours, and the best part was bumping into the Balto statue.
For those of you who don’t know, Balto is animated movie from 1995 about a half-wolf, half-dog who goes into danger to save sick children in Alaska. I don’t want to include any spoilers, so I will leave it there.

I grew up on this movie and have loved it my whole life. I was in shock standing in front of the statue.
I had forgotten the statue was in Central Park, and I’m so thankful we ran into it. I did turn into a crying mess, but that’s okay.
I called my mom to tell her about it as I stood there crying, and I got pictures once I pulled myself together. A magical moment for me for sure.
After we finished our Central Park explorations, we walked around East Village a bit.

We grabbed some food, did some thrifting, and caught the train home. Our first day in NYC was a shock, and also a fun day of surprises.

During the week, we signed up for Blink Fitness and I started going to Suryaside yoga studio. I loved Suryaside so much during this month and went to classes five times a week. The owners are incredible, the teachers are super knowledgable, and the class variety is great. I wish I could keep going! Our gym, Blink, was the most packed gym I’ve ever been at in my life. It was great and had everything we needed, but it was definitely an experience going in there every day. I felt like I was going to battle. Outside of fitness, we tried restaurants, cafes, markets, and more all within walking distance of our apartment. Like I said, we tried to experience as much as we could.

Some of our favorites were Dawa’s and Aubergine Cafe which were both a ten minute walk from our apartment.
Dawa’s is a cozy Himalayan spot with cute decor and delicious food. We went back multiple times to try different dishes.

Aubergine Cafe had the best matcha and gluten free, vegan pastries! I mean, that’s all I need. I stopped here quite a few times to enjoy their products and the neighborhood ambiance.
The market close to our place had great vendors selling a variety of items from fish to farms to bread, and they sold second hand books there as well so I had a very full basket by the time we would leave.
Our second weekend in New York was mainly focused on all of the tourist must-do items on our list.

In a nutshell, the whole weekend felt surreal to me. I never really expected to visit New York during my life, and then suddenly I find myself looking over the city from the Empire State building. Tell me that’s not a trippy feeling, it all felt so surreal to me.

Saturday was a cloudy and rainy day, but that didn’t stop us.
We started at the Empire State building with the insane view I mentioned above. We got to see the cityscape from all four directions as we walked around the ledge of the building.

I also got a picture with a fake King Kong which was so silly. Whoever designed the Empire State experience did a fantastic job.
I loved walking through the exhibits about how it was built, what life was like, models of the building, and more. It was so cool!
It kind of felt like a Disney ride.
Then we saw some of New York Fashion Week on accident on the way to grab some food at Chelsea Market.

We stopped to watch the paparazzi a little before we got too hungry.

Chelsea Market was a beast. I had no idea it was going to be so crazy and packed, there was barely any room to even move around.

After eating, we went to our tour of the 9/11 memorial.
I didn’t know what to expect from the tour, but it would’ve exceeded any expectations I had.
Our tour guide was very thorough all the way from the beginning of the story when the Twin Towers were built to 9/11 to all the years following after.
I’m so happy we got the chance to learn more about all of it.

The story and tour were very meaningful, it is hard to describe.
When we went to the memorial on 9/11, the already impactful experience was even more powerful after learning about the event, the people, and the memorial built for them.

It was hard being there with grief heavy in the air, but I’m glad we were able to pay our respects to the heros and innocents who passed from the events of 9/11.

From the tour, we went to our time slot at the American Museum of Natural History which is the building featured in the movie Night at the Museum, another childhood classic.
I booked the time slot to go right up to when the building closed so that it would be like the movie when all the characters come to life.

Sadly we did not see any twitch, but we did get to see some of our favorite characters like the Eastern Island Head, the elephants, Theodore Roosevelt, and the T-Rex.
It was so fun running around the museum to see as much as we could before they closed.
Connor and I specifically loved the dinosaur section because the skeletons they had on display were fantastic.
After they kicked us out, we scooted over to MOMA before that museum closed as well.

We literally had 15 minutes to see as much as we could, and I think we nailed it. I could spend hours and hours in museums, so this was a fun exercise to experience the displays in a short time frame.

Even with the short amount of time, we saw huge, interesting pieces that I loved.
There were colorful stuffed animal orbs hanging from the ceiling and massive iron blocks stacked in a room, and there was so much more.

They herded us out of building, and we found a close dinner spot to relax our feet at from the packed day we had.
The night wasn’t over yet though.
Once we had rested enough, we squeezed in one more attraction before it closed at 10pm.
We went to the Edge which is the highest sky deck in the Western Hemisphere.

It was the perfect way to end the day.
We started the day looking out over the city and ended it the same way, except one view was in the early sun and mist from the morning and the other was black with millions of lights below.

There was also a bar up there which was the cherry on top of the experience.
And that was only Saturday.
Sunday was all about exploring neighborhoods we wanted to check out.
We explored West Village, Soho, Greenwich, and Noho, but first, I got to meet up with two of my friends from my time at UofA!
We went and grabbed coffee at a cute place called Fellini, a little triangle of a building.

I had the best time catching up with them and hearing all about their new lives in New York. It was so fun, and I loved seeing them.

I met up with Connor in Soho while he waited to shop at Aimé Leon Dore.

The waitlist had been 45 minutes long, but I got there right before he went in so I got to enjoy the store experience without waiting thankfully.
We both totally loved the store though, the wait would’ve been worth it regardless.
Besides the sick clothes, the art was really tasteful as well.
Soho as a whole was a little jewel box of edgy fashion, eclectic shops, and popular restaurants.
We stopped in a few places and had a blast the whole time we were in Soho. The people watching was elite too.

We made our way over to Washington Square Park which has the famous arch and is next to New York University.
I loved this park because surrounding the fountain in the middle of the square were probably 30 art vendors selling their wares.

We walked around the fountain admiring everyones’ unique art from jewelry, to painting, to poems, to drawings, and more.
There was a live band playing as well.
The whole experience was a fun fusion of art, music, and sunny weather.
Tons of people were enjoying the festivities either from picnics on the grass or walking around like us.
By the time we wrapped up at the park, we needed to grab some dinner.

We made our way back over to West Village and enjoyed a delicious meal at Wild, a fully gluten free restaurant. I was in heaven, and I wish I could go back there all the time.

It was the first gluten free and dairy free pizza I had in New York!
The place was also really cute and we sat outside to enjoy people watching as everyone went out on the town for dinner.
After dinner, we took the subway back to Queens to knock out after the busy weekend.

Our thoughts on New York at this point were just “wow”.
We couldn’t believe how much there was to do and see. I described it on a call to my dad as a whole other world.
It felt like NYC was a whole planet all on its own.
We kept trying things close to our apartment throughout the week, but we didn’t go back into Manhattan until the next weekend.

My brother and his girlfriend visited us for three days from Thursday to Saturday. I always love seeing them and getting to spend time together. The only bummer was Princess got really sick Friday morning, so Connor and I took her to an emergency vet and spent the whole morning there.

I’m so happy we were able to take her in and get her on medication though. She’s my baby.
It just sucked timing wise because it was the first time she had gotten sick during all of our travels. Princess is fully healed and doing a lot better now, thank goodness.
Seeing the Statue of Liberty and being inside the base of the monument was so surreal, I still can’t believe we did that. She is just such an iconic symbol and unbelievably massive.

Lady Liberty was even prettier in person than in movies or on postcards.
Ellis Island was also a shock.
They refurbished parts of the buildings to be replicas of what it was like in 1918 and they restored the Registry Room in 1990 which was wild because we were walking in rooms where over 12 million immigrants had passed through.

I of course took my brother and his girlfriend to Central Park and around the city too. We met up with Connor for dinner at a pizza place that was totally overrated.

Ribalta is supposedly in fourth place for the best pizza place in the US, but it didn’t blow my mind.
It was good pizza, don’t get me wrong, but I had better pizza at other restaurants in New York.

The restaurant itself was also unpleasant to be at, but that’s just my opinion.
It was very busy so maybe other customers liked it more than I did.
We went to Times Square after dinner, and whoa.
It felt like I was dropped into a video game!
I’ve never seen anything like that before.
The sensory input felt more consuming than going to a rave.
There were so many bright, big screens that it almost seemed like daytime instead of nighttime.

I liked Times Square for the brief stretch time we were there, it felt like a part of my brain was being scratched, but if we had to be there for a long period of time, I think I would melt from all of the overstimulation.

I had to say goodbye to my brother and his girlfriend the next day which was sad, but hopefully I get to see them both soon for the holidays!
After dropping them off, Connor and I went to the Queens Night Market which had over 100 vendors.
A majority of those vendors were food oriented, and I was blown away by the variety of cuisines there.
We sampled a few different booths which were delicious. We also bought some art prints to remember our trip.
There was lots of music and people, everyone was having a great time.

You might be thinking, what about writing? This whole post has been about our New York experiences, but what about my journalism efforts this month? Well, this month was a little tricky because I wasn’t getting responses to any of my inquiries. Eventually I landed on an awesome story idea about Seed+Oil which is a refillery that provides local and high quality of goods to the Sunnyside area while striving to be zero waste. I can’t wait to find someone to publish this article! I still have two other stories in the works as well and a couple that need to be published, so it’s a sort of waiting game at the moment.

The next weekend we wanted to explore a couple of the areas we really loved like Brooklyn and Williamsburg. We started the morning with coffee of course at a snazzie place called Devoción. The place had great architecture and delicious tea, we could’ve hung out there for an hour, but we took our drinks to go so that we could walk over to the Brooklyn Flea market.

It was under DUMBO which was such a fun experience. Not only was the location cool under the bridge, but there were so many vintage materials!
Vendors had clothes, cameras, art, vinyl, trinkets, jewelry, and so much more.
Everything was pretty expensive, but Connor and I walked around enjoying all the booths for a couple hours before we split off for our afternoons.

I got to go see another close friend of mine for lunch after Connor and I split up.
Her and I shared our life updates over matchas and acai bowls, and it was such a lovely afternoon.
I love being in her presence and catching up, it had been awhile so it was amazing seeing her.

She walked me down to Domino Park along the East River to look at the bridges and say goodbye.
I enjoyed walking around the park for a little as I waited for Connor to meet back up with me, and I was obsessed with the park.

Not only was it the perfect amount of busy, but there was an elevated walkway, plentiful seating, beautiful views of the water and bridges, and more.
Connor and I did a couple loops around the park just loving being near the water and in the perfect weather.
I had been wanting to go to the Highline since we got to NYC, so we got on the subway and went into Manhattan to the Chelsea area.
The Highline is a public park built on a historical rail way that stretches over streets and sidewalks.

We walked along it during sunset and I absolutely loved our experience. It’s not every day you are strolling through a beautiful park above the streets of NYC with interesting buildings peaking up around you.

I loved all of the plants and greenery the park had.
What a cool way to reimagine an old structure like the railroad tracks.

We took a chunk of time walking up and down the Highline, loving every minute of it.
Before the sun fully set though, we got down from the park to make a quick walk over to the Little Island.
The Little Island is a new public park built in the Hudson River.
The structure totally blew me away, with the unique base, basin gathering areas, and nature paths up the hills.

The base took inspiration from the leftover wooden piles after Pier 54 was damaged in a hurricane, and so 280 new concrete piles were constructed and fused together to form this floating leaf of maritime botanical gardens and event spaces.

I thought it was the cutest thing, and we loved exploring it.
Once the sun fully set, we grabbed some dinner in the area before heading home.

We did a few more activities during our last full week in New York.
One that I did on my own was going to the Guggenheim for three hours during a weekday that I had mostly free.
I love art museums, and wanted to make sure I fit this one in before I left.
I’m so happy I did.
The building itself is famous of course because of its architect Frank Lloyd Wright, but it was seriously so cool.
It felt like I was in a massive seashell as I spiraled up the floors.

The floors had exhibits and rooms full of modern art and powerful pieces. I could go on and on about what I saw, but I will try not to deep dive into my love for art in this post.

I’ll just say the powerful pieces about casualties of war, torture, textiles, human experiences, and science were extremely interesting.

The next day, Thursday, Connor and I went to a pop up cocktail bar in a back room of an antique jewelry store in Brooklyn.
I heard about it after visiting the shop the week prior and thought that would be a super unique event that Connor and I would love.
They called it an out-of-sight salon named La Perla.
The back room had vintage furniture and antique pieces everywhere with a deep red bar serving a small selection of cocktails. There were a few other parties dressed up and enjoying the classical music playing. Connor and I had a great time chatting and people watching in this curated experience.

On Friday, we went out to dinner at a delicious sushi restaurant in Williamsburg, Nami Nori. The whole night ended up being full of the best surprises. First, while Connor and I were waiting for our table, one of my best friend’s best friend walked in for a reservation with her out of town boyfriend. I was so in shock at seeing her there that I thought I was mistaken because what are the odds Sofia and her visiting boyfriend would pick this one restaurant out of a million options in NYC at 9pm at night for a late dinner, right at the same time we were waiting for a table in the lobby. I called out to her because I just couldn’t believe it and we all had a little reunion right there in the waiting area! It was such a fun surprise! We made plans to purposefully see each other over the weekend so that we could all enjoy our date nights in the moment. But wow, craziest coincidence ever.

Then the dinner was fabulous.
We were served one roll at a time from the sushi chef at the high countertop, and each one was delicious.
I also loved the interior design with soft creams, light woods, and airy lighting. We had such a great dinner there, and I would definitely go back.

After dinner, we met up with Connor’s old roommate who was visiting from San Diego.
We all went to a hidden bar in an old laundromat where they warn you to not take pictures and be in the present before opening a thick, almost sound proof metal door into a dim room full of people and deep trance music.
A disco ball threw red light shards around the room and smoke was periodically released. Connor and I loved the vibe, but it made talking a little tricky so we danced for awhile before we were wiped out and had to go home.

It was such a cool experience though, and it was great seeing Connor’s friend! I would totally go back if I was in the mood for a dance night.

The following day, Saturday, we went back to Williamsburg for some thrifting and checked out downtown Brooklyn.
We had more pizza at Savelli which was probably my favorite pizza all month.
Wild in West Village is a close second, but Savelli was incredible.

On Sunday, we met up with Sofia and her boyfriend for coffee and lunch in Alphabet City at Good Thanks Cafe.
It was so much fun seeing them again, and this time we had the whole afternoon to hang out!
I loved getting to hear about their lives, and spending time together.

After lunch, we still had some time and I didn’t want to say bye yet, so we took pictures in an old fashion photo booth along the street and walked to Sofia’s apartment to enjoy the views from her rooftop.

Eventually I had to stop yapping and we said goodbye.
Connor and I had tickets to watch John Oliver and Seth Meyers at the Beacon Theater as an early birthday gift from his parents.

I had never been to a true comedy show before, and this one was sold out.
We dressed up and arrived to the beautiful, old theater very excited for the evening.
We were not disappointed. The show was hilarious from the opener to the Q&A session the comedians held after the show had finished.
I seriously laughed the whole show, and I love both of the comedians now.
The whole experience was fantastic.

We continued our normal weekly routine and started packing up a little. Suddenly it was our last weekend in New York City. Saturday rained all day, but that didn’t stop us from going to the Met. I thought the Met was only hyped up because it was a famous art museum in New York and that it would be similar to other art museums I had visited in the past. I was totally wrong.

It’s famous because it is incredible, and I wish I could go there every weekend. I’ve never been to an art museum that large before, nor have I been to one with such interesting architecture. The Guggenheim building is unique for sure, but the Met blew my mind. They had massive rooms full of Egyptian temples and Greek statues. They had a floor to ceiling iron grill that used to be used in a cathedral as a screen to separate the choir from other parts of the church. We saw huge, bright colored mandalas mapping the Buddhist art of Tibet. The list could go on. I just cannot get over how incredible of an experience the Met was.

It was also crazy how many rooms they had, I felt like I was in a maze when I was looking through the famous painters’ works like Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh, Degas, and others. I actually lost Connor at one point because we were both so caught up in the different paintings.
I loved the multiple sculpture galleries the museum had as well.
I felt like I was walking through a story book of ancient Greek mythology, and the Roman sculptures were amazing too.

It is crazy how people could make such stunning pieces of art out of blocks of stone.
As we walked through the exhibits, we saw many artists sitting in the sections sketching the sculptures which is an extra level of wonder for me because they are making art from art.

The whole experience was very special, and I wish I could go back to spend multiple days in there.

We went home to change and eat before going back out to a place called Dead Letter No. 9. I had seen a post about it and wanted to go before we left NYC. It is an old postal facility that has been remodeled into what they call a modern conversation parlor. I heard it is called Dead Letter because the old postal facility was called that since mail that never reached its destination or had issues during the transit process got sent to this facility to “die”. They took this idea and created an experience where people can come together and converse whether it’s with old friends or strangers. They have some of the old letters laminated to the tables for people to read, and they have typed prompts tagged to the walls to spur conversation. I loved all of the old postal decor with boxes and packages lining the wall behind the bar and a letter filing system behind the DJ booth. There was also a miniature Brooklyn made from old boxes and materials along a wall of the dance floor.

The curated experience doesn’t end with the bar, seating area, and dance floor though. There are four other rooms in the building to lead guests through a journey of childhood to adulthood. The first is a Treehouse complete with two bunk beds, sleeping bags, board games, old CDs, and photos strung from string. The next is a Camp where they took an old, towed camper, fixed it up, and put it “outside” with lawn chairs around a fake fire pit nearby. There were stars twinkling on the ceiling and the temperature was kept very low in this room to give you the illusion of being outside camping. Trees and foliage completed the vibe. Last was the Porch where the door was a mesh screened, swing door leading to an enclosed porch with tables and chairs. People were playing guitars and cards in here while chatting with friends. The fourth room was a back dance floor with light shows. All of the DJs that night were killer from the groovy house on the front dance floor to the reggae drum+bass set in the back. I would highly recommend this parlor for anyone looking for a unique night out. We had the best time there!

Sunday was Connor’s birthday! We slept in a little and went to watch football at our favorite local bar, Donovan’s Pub. We became friends with the bartender there, and the whole place felt like a family. It was the best energy to be around and we loved going there.

After some birthday wings and football, we went back to our place to get ready for the surprise dinner I had set up a month ago.
Aska is a two-star Michelin restaurant with food inspired by Scandinavian and New York cuisines.
We were served 12-14 courses over two hours with impeccable service from staff.

The dining room was amazing and intimate with a great view into the front kitchen. I’ve never been shocked by food before in the way Aska shocked me.
Not only were the presentations artful, but they gave completely new experiences to the food we were tasting, and the food was phenomenal as well.
The only thing I would change would be the attention to detail when it came to my allergies.

I had notified the restaurant of my allergies a month in advance, confirmed a week in advance, and double confirmed in person before we were sat. They assured me all the food would be safe and that I could enjoy my experience. During the meal, multiple chefs were confused about which of us had the allergies, and I believe a couple dishes were served to us incorrectly because of the miscommunication. I loved our meal until we got home and I threw up the hundreds of dollars worth of food. We went straight from Aska to our apartment, and as soon as I was home, I was unwell. Sadly I was sick for the rest of the evening with Connor taking care of me on his birthday night. I was recovered by morning, but I wish I could remember the incredible meal for what is was when we were at Aska instead of what happened after, especially when I was assured my allergies would be taken care of.

Connor left the following day on Monday to drive to Maine, and I drove out on Tuesday. We both checked into our AirBnB in Maine and are loving it so far!

New York City was the experience of a lifetime, and we may visit again in the future. I don’t want to add too many take aways to the end of this post, so I’ll just say this: New York City is the biggest apple I’ve ever come across in my life.

October Stop: Auburn, ME

August Stop: Ingleside, IL